Hiked up Grays and Torreys on four hours' sleep after an eight-hour drive from Salt Lake. J and I met up with a couple friends and we were up and down in a hurry. Beautiful day, easy grades to the summit, great views.

Unfortunately, my brother and I were plagued with poor weather during the entire week. It seemed as though every time the skis or shoes hit the snow, the wind would come up and it would start snowing. Oh well, the mountain will always be there, and I will return!

Marni and I summited Grays at sunrise and ate breakfast up there alone in our sleeping bags. Then we summited Torreys shortly after and headed down before the crowds got heavy. These were our first 14er summits together.

Camped overnight & hit this up the next day-had a rare break in the weather but it was still windy as all hell and cold at the top. But at least I got to see the sun! Some recent slide activity on Kelso and Torreys.

Hiked the North Slopes to Grays and the South Slopes to Torreys from Stevens Gulch Trailhead. The road to the trailhead was washed out from a recent storm and I barely made it through in my Honda Pilot. This was my first 14er combo.

This was the first of many climbs of Grays. Most climbs were from Stevens Gulch trailhead via the standard route and combined with Torreys. However I have also climbed Grays from Peru drainage and combined with Edwards and Ruby. Another time was from Stevens and combined with Edwards. I have also snowshoed in from I-70 to climb Grays.

Grays was my 2nd fourteener, and I made every mistake there that a beginner possibly could. One time I slept out a blizzard in the mine between Kelso and Torreys (the wheelbarrow and shovel at the back of the mine helped me dig out the next day), another time I had a whole layer of snow collapse (and fortunately not slide) underneath me on the way up Kelso. Teaching yourself about the mountains is full of danger, but fortunately I was able to run the gauntlet of death. Grays still stands in my mind as a mountain that opened my eyes to the high summits of Colorado, and to the joys of summitting in winter.